The Seventh Dragon: The Riddle of Equal Temperament

A veteran piano tuner presents a non-technical, literary view of the quixotic tuning system used on keyboard instruments for hundreds of years. Winner of the Western States Book Award for creative non-fiction in 1986, newly updated with illustrations, index, bibliography.

When Anita Sullivan started a second career as a piano tuner decades ago, she was immediately puzzled by the piano’s complicated tuning system. Surprised to learn that her new profession was not only technically complex, but in fact required artistic judgments, she set herself to describing the tuning system in a way that would make sense to ordinary listeners, rather than piano technicians alone. This exceptional book is the result. Sullivan lives in Oregon, where recently she has turned her attention to early pianos, the tuning of historical temperaments, and the music that goes with them. Please visit http://www.seventhdragon.com for more information.